Videos Portray Successes in WV’s Food System

The folks over at the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition have put together some terrific videos covering some of the great things happening to support local farms, local communities and healthy eating in West Virginia. From their blog: Launched by the West Virginia Food & Farm Coalition in January 2012, the "Fresh Ideas In Action" Series highlights important issues, succesful projects and inspiring entrepreneurs within West Virginia's local food system.  Each 6-minute audio-visual "snapshot" is a unique story, told by the people who've lived it, about a model or idea that is successfully getting more local food from producer to consumer, or promises to do so. Click the links below to see and listen to each "snapshot" as a streaming video. The "Fresh Ideas In Action" Series Snapshot #1:  Community Garden Market Snapshot #2:  Manna Meal Community Garden Snapshot #3:  School Gardens in Early Education Snapshot #4:  Mason County FFA:  One Entrepreneur's Story Snapshot #5:  Nutrition Education with Farm to School Snapshot #6:  Food as Medicine at the VA Medical Center Snapshot #7:  Bridgeport Winter Farmers...

Highlander Center Internships: Apply Now!

Our friends at the Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, TN are looking to fill three open internship positions — applications are due February 13, so spread the word to anyone you think might be a good fit! Highlander Internships 2012 We have three internship openings for 2012.  Our schedule for selection is: –          Feb.  15  Letters of interest and resumes to –          Feb. 16-29 Process applications –          March 1  Complete selection, notify all applicants General information about Highlander internships: These positions all provide a weekly stipend, housing,  mentoring and support for educational goals of internships.  We work to provide a valuable rich learning experience and also to connect applicant interests and skills with the positions we have available each year.   We also have students and volunteers come for stays at Highlander, in order to provide more people an intensive chance to learn and contribute at Highlander Center.    Openings for positions at Highlander in 2012: Appalachian Youth Leadership, Policy and Network Support We are looking  for a young person (under 30)  from the Central Appalachian region to help assist with Highlander’s work in the Central Appalachian Regional Network, with policy work on broadband and local assets and support of our Stay Together Appalachian Youth leadership institute as well as project and other Appalachian and Southern work to support leaders in the region.  Seeds of Fire – youth programming We are looking for  two 3 month interns or one six month intern available from May to...

The Community Impact of School Consolidation

School consolidation has become a significant issue in Appalachia, as in many rural areas. Just witness the storm of controversy over planned consolidation of elementary schools in Letcher County, Kentucky. Consolidation is used as a cost-cutting measure that closes smaller schools and moves students to larger, more centralized facilities. Consolidated schools may offer newer buildings, more extracurriculars and more modern technology, but they also often result in long bus rides for children and a loss of community. In this heartfelt piece from the Daily Yonder, a writer from West Virginia, laments the closing of her little school in Nicholas County. The Heartbreak of a Closed School 01/27/2012 The school at Canvas was never much to look at, but it was the heart of the community. Now we know that consolidating schools not only failed communities, it failed education, too. By Betty Dotson-Lewis Betty Dotson-Lewis This is all that's left of our Canvas school (left). It serves now as a meeting place for a Ruritan club. Where did you go to school?   Were you one of the lucky ones who lived in a rural school district with small schools, good teachers, good administrators and support personnel who treated you as if you were their own? Were you fortunate enough to go to school where you were a real student instead of just a number?  I was.  I attended Canvas Grade School in Canvas, Nicholas County, West Virginia in the Appalachian coalfields. Canvas Grade School was near the end of...

Be Part of Leadership East Kentucky’s Class of 2012!

Leadership East Kentucky is a year-long program intended to build leadership skills and learning around the critical issues facing eastern Kentucky. According to their website, the program "recruits a class from throughout East Kentucky and from diverse fields of interest, including business & industry, education, government, non profits, religion, arts & culture, grassroots organizations and others…. Leadership East Kentucky is a program that is vital to the future of East Kentucky, growing leaders who in turn grow their communities." The program meets throughout the region every other month from May through December. They're currently accepting applications for the class of 2012 – the deadline is April...

Projections Show Larger Decline of Appalachian Coal; Is Anybody in Charge Listening?...

New projections from the federal Energy Information Agency show an even larger decline for Central Appalachian coal. By 2035, coal is expected to comprise just 39 percent of our nation's energy mix, and Central Appalachian coal production is estimated to decline 54 percent. This isn't shocking news to anyone who has been watching the trends for the past few years, and yet few of our elected leaders are talking about how to deal with it beyond inflammatory language that, as Ken Ward over at the Coal Tattoo puts it, "simply allows the region’s political leaders to cover up the fact that they don’t have a plan for dealing with the impact of the coming coal production collapse." We here at Appalachian Transition spotlight some of the promising examples of new thinking and new economies for Central Appalachia, and there are many of them. From the revival of family farms and local foods to opportunities in higher education and clean energy, Appalachians are having important conversations about transition. But without the necessary policy changes and political will to scale up these pockets of success and diversify the region's economy, Appalachia will remain woefully unprepared for the next coal bust. Yes, economic transition is challenging. It is politically fraught. It requires new thinking and openness to change. But when study after study shows us that coal will not be here forever, we cannot afford to remain complacent. And if our politicians and elected officials aren't willing to act, then maybe you should...

How$mart Retrofits Caught on Film!

Our friends at Appalshop's Making Connections News followed How$mart team members on a recent home energy audit in eastern Kentucky.  Take a look at how it went, caught on film in this great video: About Kristin TraczKristin Tracz served MACED’s Research and Policy team from 2009-2012 working on clean energy policy, energy efficiency programs and the Appalachian Transition Initiative. She joined MACED after finishing her Master of Environmental Management degree at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. She now lives and works in Washington,...

Innovative Small-Scale Animal Processing Facility to Help Appalachian Farmers...

McDowell County, North Carolina is getting a first-of-its-kind animal processing facility that will help area producers get their poultry and rabbits to more consumers. The plant is USDA-certified, which means those who use it can sell their products across state lines and will be more appealing to larger grocery stores. Not only is the facility a non-profit, it plans be Animal Welfare Approved, meaning animals on-site will be handled humanely. Finding a USDA-certified processor that small-scale producers can access and afford is challenging; most are geared for much larger production. The McDowell news has the full story below.   Unique meat processing plant opens in McDowell Developers say it's the first of its kind   By: Mike Conley | McDowell News Published: January 10, 2012    McDowell County is now the home of the first community-administered, non-profit meat processing plant in the United States that is also USDA inspected. This new facility should also help small-scale meat growers expand their operations and get their products out to more consumers. The Foothills Pilot Plant is open for fully-inspected poultry and rabbit processing as of this week. Located at 135 Ag Services Drive off of N.C. 226 South, the plant is a collaboration of state and local governments, small-scale meat producers and grant-making agencies. It is operated under joint authority of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Aministration to provide “regional growers with the opportunity to market their meat products to a broader consumer base.” The plant will...

Editorial: Fund Education with coal severance

The Lexington Herald-Leader offers some advice on supporting higher education in the mountains. Fund education with coal severance, U-Pikeville needs more study. Thanks to House Speaker Greg Stumbo and former-Gov. Paul Patton for bringing attention to Eastern Kentucky's future and its desperate need for affordable higher education. All of Kentucky should care about this because all of Kentucky pays for the region's poverty and lack of opportunity. We pay directly when our taxes go to support people and places unable to support themselves. And we pay indirectly when a potential investor looks at Kentucky's demographics and shies away. We don't know whether converting the private University of Pikeville into Kentucky's ninth public university, as Stumbo and Patton propose, is the best way to fill this unmet need. A lot of questions would have to be answered before another four-year institution is added to the already underfunded system. But Patton and Stumbo have hit upon one indisputably great idea: Use severance tax revenues now designated for regional economic development to educate residents of the mountain coalfields. (It wouldn't be a bad idea in the western coalfields, either.) The state collects severance taxes when coal, natural gas, oil and gravel are extracted and processed; the money is divvied out into a number of state and local funds. Coal severance is expected to generate $326.7 million this year. Part of the severance money is returned to help producing counties prepare for when the mining ends. Nothing would do more to lift coal...